Encoders 80 kbit/s

If you´d like some other audio codecs to be added to this section, please drop us a line with your proposal.

AAC+ VBR@76.8 (Nero 6.0) 4.17 (≈2%)     mp3PRO VBR@84.9 4.14 (≈1%)     AAC VBR@84.9 (Nero 5.5) 3.63 (≈4%)     AAC CBR@84.2 (LiquidAudio) 3.19 (≈4%)

AAC CBR@84.2 (LiquidAudio) - LiquidAudio AAC CBR, 84.2 kbit/s FBR CODER: Liquid Player Promotional 6.1.0.15 - input from Audio CD - 44100 Hz Stereo DECODER: Liquid Player Promotional 6.1.0.15 - output to Audio CD AAC VBR@84.9 (Nero 5.5) - MPEG-4 AAC VBR Low Complexity, 84.9 kbit/s FBR CODER: Ahead MPEG-4 AAC Encoder Plugin for Ahead Nero Burning Rom 5.5.10.35 - Ahead audio RAW convertor (resampling plugin) - SINC, Quality 100 - Encoder quality - High - AAC Profile - Low Complexity - Enable PNS - No - preset - INTERNET - 44100 Hz Stereo DECODER: Ahead MPEG-4 AAC Decoder Plugin for Ahead Nero Burning Rom 5.5.10.35 AAC+ VBR@76.8 (Nero 6.0) - MPEG-4 AAC VBR High Efficiency (HE), 76.8 kbit/s FBR CODER: Ahead MPEG-4 AAC Encoder Plugin for Ahead Nero Burning Rom 6.0.0.23 - Encoder quality - High - AAC Profile - High Efficiency - Enable PNS - No - preset - STREAMING - 44100 Hz Stereo DECODER: Ahead MPEG-4 AAC Decoder Plugin for Ahead Nero Burning Rom 6.0.0.23 mp3PRO VBR@84.9 - mp3PRO VBR by Fraunhofer IIS & Coding Technologies, 84.9 kbit/s FBR CODER: mp3PRO Encoder Plugin for Ahead Nero Burning Rom 5.5.10.0 - Encoding Quality - Highest - Allow intensity stereo coding - yes - Allow downmix - yes - Padding - ISO - preset - High - 44100 Hz Stereo DECODER: THOMSON mp3PRO Audio Player Demo 1.1.0 (Build 0)

How to read the ratings

The ratings are updated live as new participants add their grades to the system. Rating bar consists of the following elements:

- Device or technology being tested.

- Value of actual perceived audio quality (rating) which is also indicated by a bar length . Anchor points could be interpreted as follows:

In most cases using this device/technology:

1.0 – you will hear heavily distorted sound
2.0 – you will hear unpleasant sound artifacts
3.0 – you will hear distinctly audible but tolerable sound artifacts
4.0 – you will hear faintly discernible sound artifacts
5.0 – you will not hear any sound artifacts
above 5.0 – all sound artifacts will be beyond threshold of human perception with corresponding perception margin

and - The high and the low of a rating. As each device is tested under nine different sound items, there are nine different local ratings for a device. In fact, the actual rating is an average of those nine local ratings. The highest and the lowest ones are indicated. Big gap between them means that sound quality of device/technology is not consistent enough. It will vary with type of sound material: music of different genres and complexity, voice with or without music, noisy/clear recordings etc. The lowest local rating is more important in this sense as it indicates worst case behavior of tested device.

- Reliability of rating. It is also indicated by the color of bar - more reliable ratings have less percentage values and darker bars. Reliability depends on number of grades returned by participants. In most cases 5% or less is OK.

- Ruler for convenient measuring of highs and lows.